Prayer for February 14, 2021

Loving God, this is a day we celebrate the idea of love.  Help us to truly live into the definition of that word.  May we be unconditional in how we love one another.  May we find new ways to express your love by our actions.  Help us to fight the scourge of hate that seems to want to overwhelm us.  May we move from seeing people with whom we disagree as enemies and instead know that we will not agree on everything and that does not make someone whom we should hate, but someone from whom we should listen more closely to at least understand their position. We will never be completely in agreement, and yet we need now, more than ever, to find points of agreement on our need to care for the neediest of our brothers and sisters.  Help us to chose love over hate, compassion over apathy. All this we ask in your name.  Amen.